SMMP 2.0

Next Generation SMMP: Centralizing Small Meetings
You've secured senior-level buy-in, centralized all meetings functions, communicated your policies and implemented your SMMP. Now what? Are small meetings the next frontier? With so many companies embracing the power of meetings to market themselves, it only makes sense that the market is maturing. In searching for additional savings and efficiencies, small-meeting spend has now become the low-hanging fruit for many companies. While certainly there is great opportunity, it will undoubtedly be a challenge, even for those with mature strategic meeting management programs.

Gone are the days of unmanaged spend, large expense accounts and discretionary budgets. The pharmaceutical industry pioneered the concept of SMMP in the early 1990s and provided sparkling results impossible to ignore by other industries. By the sheer volume of meetings, larger companies like Pfizer, Bristol Myers Squibb and Eli Lilly were able to save tens of millions of dollars in their SMMP infancy stages, to rave reviews by their management teams.

Now SMMP is all the rage in corporate America, with roughly 60% of Fortune 1000 companies having a program in place. With annual savings typically around the 10% mark for successful implementations, CFOs and CEOs have been very pleased with the results. With decreased consumer spending, most companies are in cost cutting mode, which means they’ll be thinking if we cut that much off our meetings budget last time, surely we can cut costs further. With a solid small meetings strategy prepared and a plan of action ready to be put in place, you’ll be in a position to shine. In a time of economic uncertainty, this might help to avoid project cancellations, budget cuts and staff layoffs.

Whether you recognize it or not, there are plenty of ‘meetings’ happening off the books. Some stakeholders want to maintain control of their programs, and there are many ways to stay under the guidelines radar. The most common is to have one program billed over several invoices. Your first step to overcoming these sorts of issues should be soundly communicating the reasoning behind such centralization. It’s not about taking control, but sharing a common goal of cost reduction and doing more with less. Many culprits are internal DIY administrators who lack contract negotiation and risk management experience.

“MEETING IN A BOX”
Preferred-vendor contracts are a favorite tool for controlling the costs of small meetings. Negotiate tiered pre-packaged programs that the individual user can select, even for as little as five attendees. This approach should allow for cancellation clauses, room night rates, function room rentals, F&B and A/V. With short lead times a constant for small meetings, hotels face numerous challenges in responding to requests quickly. Try to send as many individual travelers to preferred hotels in order to create more value as a partner (and leverage spending).

Like the stock market, hotel occupancy and rates are down significantly (numbers here). Average U.S. occupancy was down 7% in the first week of October over the same period in 2007. Rates dropped 1% and revenue per available room slipped 8%. Luxury hotels took the brunt, with occupancy off 12%, rates down 5% and revenue declining 16% . Hotels are looking to boost revenue any way they can, and what better way to do it than with those who are already spending? But there are limits. Small meetings mean smaller budgets, and certain concessions attained by larger groups are not as feasible in the smaller realm.

There is no ‘template’ to this initiative that will suit every company and situation. Internal interviews, historical data analysis and supplier research need to be conducted more thoroughly. You may also want to look at how you receive data from hotels when an individual’s credit card is used. During the data collection phase it will become clear that a single form of payment strategy will make ongoing data collection much simpler.

MEETING CARDS
Corporations with meeting budgets near $10 million a year and a meeting policy in place were the early adopters of meeting cards. But any company that wants a better grip on meeting spend could benefit from a card program. Meeting cards work to corral spending, then as control, and eventually as a more efficient management tool. Under a typical invoice payment system, employees can select any expense code they want. As a result, many meeting expenses end up in a miscellaneous category, which makes gathering data even more difficult. By issuing these pre-populated cards to the DIY administrators, you might find that their unmanaged spend comes into clearer focus.

TECHNOLOGY AS AN ENABLER
Most large hotel chains have developed internal technology solutions that interface with the small meeting applications provided by companies such as StarCite and Concur. Recently StarCite has made a big push in the small meetings area with an online booking tool that allows customers to enter their own negotiated rates and contract terms into the system. Hyatt and Hilton have also expanded their offerings when it comes to small meetings, recognizing the importance to their corporate clients. Be mindful of the fees charged to the hotels by your technology provider, as it will definitely affect your pre-negotiated rates. Worktopia recently launched an online meeting space booking tool that can prove to be very helpful when lead times are extremely short.

Another effective solution to cutting costs using technology is to push as many of these smaller meetings online as possible. Webconferencing works particularly well with smaller internal meetings that regularly occur amongst regional sales teams. Many of these stakeholders book meeting space at a hotel out of habit, when their objectives can be accomplished much more effectively and economically by hosting a web meeting. Assure them that face to face meetings will never be abandoned, but reducing the sales teams travel expenses and time out of the office will benefit everyone’s bottom-line. There is no shortage of great providers: WebEx, GoToMeeting, Adobe, Microsoft, ON24, Saba and Genesys. For additional information on their offerings, CLICK HERE

TIME MANAGEMENT
One thing all planners are short on is time. Once you’ve negotiated your terms, outsource as many of the non-core components as possible. Centralize your business with a third party outsourcing firm you trust and let them manage the time-consuming details that arise. BUCOM has assisted numerous clients with arranging small meeting packages with very reasonable rates.

Whether you choose to negotiate packages with hotels, utilize new technologies or roll out a meeting card plan, you will undoubtedly face many challenges, particularly in this uncertain economic environment. Maintaining your focus on the big picture, which means not getting bogged down with all the minutiae, is paramount to success in such a large initiative.

IT&ME/Motivation Show

The two-day Motivation Show, focused on meetings & incentives industry professionals, was again held in Chicago on September 23 & 24 at McCormick Center. Each year, industry suppliers from all over the world converge for the opportunity to meet and greet corporate and third-party meeting planners. Huge exhibits are set up, direct mail campaigns are executed, iPods are raffled off and bags are stuffed with marketing brochures. But the question remains, are the exhibitors able to recoup their investment?

Motivation (IT&ME for us old-timers) is rumored to become more of a tradition than a vital opportunity to meet potential buyers. The show is split up into two main categories, travel and promotional products. While traditionally the travel side had a much larger presence, it seems that the promotional products section has taken over the dominant position in recent years. The travel side is split into subsets of hotels, destinations, CVB’s, DMC’s and travel management agencies. The largest exhibitor, as one would imagine, was Las Vegas, however that represented a shared facility with such participants as Venetian, MGM and LVCVB.

Total exhibit space sold was down 10% over last year’s show, and attendance was dropped by 6%, which undoubtedly demonstrates the uneasiness being felt as a result of the financial market woes. Many planners had registered to attend and for one reason or another were not able to make it. “You had some planners simply not attend at all and others come as they have done each year,” commented Paul Buccheit, National Sales Manager at the Venetian/Palazzo. “The ones that do attend approach the show with a plan of attack on who they need to see, then they leave.” Review on MeetingsNet.

As in years past, many larger vendors hosted evening functions that seemed to get a much better turnout than their counterparts with only an exhibit booth. SITE hosted an affair at the Peninsula that attracted 700 attendees. Some of other highlights were private parties hosted by Starwood at the House of Blues, Hilton at the Conrad and Golden Triangle, Tahoe & Reno at Smith & Wollensky’s, LXR at the Peninsula, Express Jet at Elm Street Liquors, 3D Destinations Cocktail Cruise on Lake Michigan, Gaylord at Rockit and Switzerland at the Museum of Science & Industry.

“I also see the evenings just as valuable as the show floor, if not more, for networking with potential clients.” said Buccheit, whose company hosted a well-attended party at SushiSambaRio. “There is still value in seeing your clients and developing the relationship further so that when business does pick up you are the first person they call.”

While the majority of exhibitors at the show don’t have the budget to host such extravagant affairs, the ones that market their parties effectively, usually get a great turnout. While attendance is in decline, the show appears to be far from standing on its last leg. The show organizers also scheduled the show on the heels of Yom Kippur, which negatively affected attendance as well.

While the economic “slowdown” is certain to have had a tremendous effect on attendees from out of town, many meeting planners still see the show as an invaluable part to their yearly plans. Having all major hotels and destinations in one location can allow planners to see most of their key suppliers over the two day period. It will be interesting to see the percentage of exhibitors that return in 2009.

Are you Hungary?

We just got back from a 3-day meeting in beautiful Budapest, Hungary. This capital city, with a population of more than two million residents, sits just down the Danube River from Vienna and is often overlooked by tourists.

Aside from all the sightseeing and local history to take in, one of the most interesting aspects of Budapest culture is the local cuisine. The famous Hungarian goulash is a must-have and is surprising when it turns out to be a spicy, thin soup instead of the thick stew I was expecting. There many more local delicacies that also should to be sampled. Shockingly, Budapest is known for it’s smoked goose liver, which everyone had to try. At first I was skeptical, but eventually I succumbed to peer pressure. To my surprise, it was really delicious... the perfect start to a fabulous meal!

One of our pharmaceutical clients needed to host an investigator meeting in a central European destination and asked BUCOM to recommend a solution. After an extensive search, BUCOM selected the Kempinski Hotel Corvinus Budapest. The meeting space was absolutely perfect for our client’s needs – all with close proximity and easy access to the business center. One of our favorite amenities provided by the Kempinski was complimentary wireless internet access EVERYWHERE in the hotel. You don’t even need a password to connect. This is very rare for a hotel of this size & stature, and was a huge convenience factor for our participants and staff alike.

The concierge staff at the Kempinski was extremely helpful, more so than the other properties we have worked with in Budapest. They went out of their way to ensure that our group was treated like VIPs. Not only did they assist us in pulling our shipments out of customs (which is very strict and notoriously slow) but also followed-up to ensure that they were delivered to our office as soon as they arrived to the hotel. They were very attentive and provided top-notch customer service to all of our attendees when called upon.

Since the hotel was located in the city center, the participants were able to see many of the most popular local attractions. The sightseeing highlights include Heroe’s Square (pictured above), Buda Castle, Szechenyi Public Baths, and the Museum of Applied Arts. If you have time, I also suggest the twilight dinner cruises on the Danube River.

All in all, the attendees had a very productive meeting and our client was extremely pleased with the outcome. While we have hosted many programs in Budapest over the last 20 years, the rave reviews from our client ensure that we will be returning again very soon.

Second Life a viable meeting option?

There is something very nerdy about virtual worlds and the folks that inhabit them way too much. One thing is certain, virtual worlds are going to have more and more real-life applications that will affect all of us in the meeting planning industry.

While you may have dismissed the possibility of hosting meetings & events in virtual worlds in the past, the new generation of information workers have a different attitude. All the Gen-Y kids coming out of Stanford, MIT, and Princeton, the business leaders in 10 years, all have "In-World" avatars that reflect their own preferences and personalities. One day (not too far away), these same avatars will be a confluence of Facebook profiles, V-Cards, LinkedIn profiles and more. Some of the world's largest companies have been investing heavily in Second Life for quite some time.

As meeting planners, we can't afford to ignore new technologies that will have a huge impact on the future of our industry. Imagine completing 10 site visits in one day, without ever leaving your office. Start thinking of the look on senior management's faces when you demonstrate the cost savings gained by having no airfare, no accommodations, no F&B. Are any of you currently using this technology past the demo stage? Is the push coming from your team or your IT department? If not, are any of you in discussion about it? Who is driving it, Meeting Planning, IT, Marketing/Sales or Senior Management?

Here is an interesting example: Virtual Forbidden City developed by IBM in partnership with the Palace Museum. It was designed to encourage people from all around the world to explore and learn about Chinese history and culture.

Starwood's new hotel chain aloft actually launched it's brand with virtual tours in Second Life before any of the properties were opened.

Dell Island (video) is another great example of how consumers can interact with products online. Not a believer yet? Check out the infinite possibilities at What is Scion City. While this is nothing more than an extended commercial, approaching it in a different fashion allows for more engagement. It's only a matter of time until the graphics in Second Life are as good as they are on Grand Theft Auto IV on X-Box 360.

Here an example that touches our political and mainstream media systems - John Edwards' 'In-World' Presidential Campaign mocked by John Stewart:


The business applications for meeting planners are endless, but once again a cultural/consumption shift will have to occur to make it useful. Planners need to anticipate the needs of their customers and attendees and and be there waiting for them when they walk through the door. Being prepared to offer this to our internal customers before they ask for it is what makes us valuable to our organizations.

Instead of a hosting a mandatory compliance training meeting in a boring conference center in some random suburb of Boston, you can host it in your virtual meeting room 'In-World' at your own branded meeting space/swim-up pool-bar, on a Pete Dye-designed golf course sitting on your private island in the Carribean.

Hey, you can dream, right? That's what makes Second Life so interesting. If you'd like to learn more, check out Millions of Us.

Southwest Continues it's Hot Streak

In addition to it's recent announcement of service to Minneapolis/St. Paul, Southwest recently announced special airport security lines for frequent travelers. Appropriately entitled "Fly By" security lanes will be open to Business Select passengers, in addition to elite members of their Rapid Rewards program.

The program will be rolled out later this month at Phoenix Sky Harbor International, Orange County John Wayne, Denver International, San Francisco International, Los Angeles International Baltimore/Washington International and Dallas Love Field. While the program is in it's launch phase, they anticipate rolling it out to all major hubs.

"Expediting passengers through security is just one example of how Southwest is enhancing the customer experience by offering added convenience for seasoned travelers," said Kevin Krone, vice president of marketing, sales and distribution.

With their huge win in gas price hedges a couple years ago, along with their financial strength, it seems while all other airlines are grasping at straws, Southwest is increasingly improving their position in the marketplace and with business travelers. While they have traditionally positioned themselves towards consumer travel, they are gaining more traction in the corporate market with their new programs and on-time flight arrivals and departures.